Today was the running of the Delaware Half-Marathon, and I was all set to compete in it until last Thursday. That's when I realized that I hadn't registered for it. I looked online and saw that the race was full and registration was closed. Ugh!
I figured I could just go out and run 13 miles at race pace, but after talking with my coach, I decided to run a 5k race, with a 1-mile warm up and 3-mile cool down as my Sunday workout.
So this morning, in a steady drizzle, I joined about 100 other runners and walkers in the first Diamondback Dash to help raise money and awareness to help protect the Diamondback Terrapin, which lives in the area and around this time of year tries to cross the very busy Route 1 to lay eggs.
I positioned myself right at the front for the start and after about the first quarter mile, I was surprised to find myself in 3rd place. I went out a little too fast on the first mile (6 minutes, 19 seconds) and as I slowed down a bit, a couple other runners caught me. I held my place through the rest of the race, covering each of the 2nd and 3rd miles in 6 minutes, 40 seconds. I poured it on at the end and finished with a time of 20:12 - 6th place overall and 3rd in my age group.
This is the first time I've placed in the top 3 in my age group and is a personal best time for me for a 5k (at least since high school, but who remembers back that far?).
My coach noted in my training program that the next 12 days are going to be very tough and I need to get all the sleep I can get. I think I'll start now with a well-earned nap.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment